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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Top 5 Best Right Fielders Right Now.

As we get closer and closer to opening day I am still doing my countdown list on who are the best of the best in Right Field. There may be a few surprises on my list but these five players I have choice had an outstanding year in 2010. This list is about the players who have done well in the past and what they are expected to do in the future.



1. Seattle Mariners - Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro is known to be one of the best right fielders in all of baseball and has been the face of the Mariners for 10 going on 11 years and although his team has never won a World Series and has been in last place for the past 5 to 6 years he has been faith full to this team. Ichiro in 2004 hit 262 hits and set a new major league baseball record for the most hits in one season and that might be a record that will never be broken again. He is one of the most impact players in baseball; he doesn't strikeout a lot and gets on base almost every time. It's unlikely to see Ichiro ever go 0 for 3 in a game. In June of 2009 Ichiro hit 44 hits and that would set his 20th career month with 40 or more hits. Also forgot to add that before Ichiro played major league baseball he played 8 years in the Japan league. So really Ichiro has played 20 years of baseball and has had to do more than any other baseball player. Ichiro in 2010 had somewhat of an off year but still played his role batting .315, hit 5 home runs, and drove in 42 RBI's. His career batting average is .331 and slugging percentage is .430. In his career he has won 10 AL Gold Glove awards, 3 AL Silver Slugger awards, won the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP award. Second player in baseball history since Fred Lynn to receive both awards since 1975, he has also won the 2007 All-Star MVP award. Also his postseason number aren't too bad batting .421, 0 home runs, and driving in 3 RBI's. Ichiro is getting up there in age but still shows that he can still play and when he hangs it up he will find himself in the baseball Hall of Fame and to be the first ever Japanese baseball player to be induced to the baseball Hall of Fame. One of the game’s greatest outfielder's we have ever seen.



2. Los Angeles Dodgers - Andre Ethier

Now some people may not agree with Ethier being number two on my list but when you look at his number in the past few years he has been one of the best right fielders in the National League. He has helped the Dodgers win two NL West division titles, and has gotten them to the NLSC in 2008 and 2009 but lost to the Phillies in both years. Ethier in 2010 was injured a few times and that might have been a reason why he had an off year but nonetheless when he is healthy he is a big force and has a great arm in right field. Last season when Ethier played he batted .292, hit 23 home runs, and drove in 82 RBI's. Ethier's postseason number look like this - .266 batting average hit 3 home runs, and drove in 6 RBI's. His numbers are expected to be a lot better now that he is healthy. Also his life time batting average is .291 and slugging percentage is .491. Ethier also in 2009 won the NL Silver Slugger award. Expect big things from him in 2011 if he stays healthy.



3. Milwaukee Brewers - Corey Hart

Now Hart has been in the league for a few years and in 2010 he finally had that break out season that everyone has been waiting for and I think he is ready to show that he is for real. Playing for not such a great team Hart proved to be one of the better known right fielders now some would argue the Jayson Werth should be ahead of Hart, but the only reason Hart is ahead of Werth is because look at what team Hart plays for and the team that Werth played for. Hart in 2010 drove in over 100 RBI's, hit 31 home runs, and batted .283. Now his average may be a little bit lower but he is still a good player and will be for years to come. Hart's career batting average is .273 and his slugging percentage is .483. Hart when he played in postseason in 2008 he batted .231, 0 home runs, and 0 RBI's. In 2011 expect the Brewers to have a better year and maybe win the NL Central and if they do expect Hart to have a huge role in their success.



4. Washington Nationals - Jayson Werth

In the offseason the Nats landed big time power hitter in right fielder Jayson Werth. Werth who was a long time member of the Phillies decide his time in Philly was up wanted to go somewhere to settle down. I respect that I mean he won a World Series in 2008 and had good years with the Phillies and wanted to get paid but I thing is I don't understand is why would you want to leave a winning team to go to a building team? The Nationals right now aren't the best team in baseball but in 4 to 5 years they will be but by the time that happens, Werth will be close to 36 or 37 years old. Now Werth is a great power hitter on any team and the Nationals will be happy they picked him up. He can teach a lot of the younger guys and it’s surprising that Werth has not yet won a Gold Glove in the outfield. He has a great arm and knows how to play the field well. In 2010 with in his last year as a Phillie he had the second highest batting average batting .298, with 27 home runs, and driving in 85 RBI's. Now Werth has been in the postseason with the Dodgers and Phillies but he's done most of his work with the Phillies batting .268, hitting 13 home runs, and driving in 26 RBI's, the Phillies are going to miss that in the postseason. Also his career average is .272 and his slugging percentage is .481. Expect Werth to have somewhat of a in between year, his number could go down a few but not that much, mainly in the RBI total.



5. Toronto Blue Jays - Jose Bautista

Now some people may disagree with Bautista being on this list only because he has only had one good year but after the year he had in 2010 why shouldn't he be on this list? He hit 54 home runs, drove in 124 RBI's and his average was kind of low at .260 but this guy changed his swing up big time. This was a guy at one time who only 13 home runs, and drove in 40 RBI's. Now a lot people are asking could have steroids played part in this? Now in today's game that impossible because they check that all the time now and nothing was found. He just found that natural ability that he never knew he had. Now Bautista is listed under at third base but I think he will find his way back to the outfield because this guy also has a rocket arm. If he keeps having seasons like he did in 2010 he will be a better known power hitter. He just has to work on hitting for average and that's the only reason why he didn't win the 2010 AL MVP award because when hear someone hit 54 home runs, and drove in 124 RBI's and didn't win the MVP award there has to be a reason he didn't win it and like I said before his average was really low. Bautista also won the 2010 AL Silver Slugger and Hank Aaron awards. His career batting average is .244 and slugging percentage is .453. Expect him to have another great year, not as great as 2010 but he will still be an impact player.





Players who missed the list.

6. Houston Astors - Hunter Pence 2010 - BA .282, 25 home runs, and 92 RBI's
7. New York Yankees - Nick Swisher 2010 - BA .288, 29 home runs, and 88 RBI's
8. Cincinnati Reds - Jay Bruce 2010 - BA .281, 25 home runs, and 70 RBI's
9. Baltimore Orioles - Nick Markakis 2010 - BA .297, 12 home runs, and 60 RBI's
10. Arizona Diamondbacks - Justin Upton 2010 - BA .273, 17 home runs, and 69 RBI's.

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